Getting vaccines to the neediest people is a logistical, political, and organizational challenge, even at the best of times. Now, imagine how difficult it must be during a deadly pandemic, which has already claimed well over half a million lives in Brazil. Late in May, a team of doctors, nurses, and frontline workers from U.S.-based NGO Health In Harmony, the Federal University of Pará’s medical school, and Instituto Socioambiental embarked on a three-week expedition taking two boats filled with ice and 1,400 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to remote riverside communities in the Amazon.
This week, we spoke with one of the people who helped take these vaccines into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
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Guest:
- Marcelo Salazar is an engineer and Brazil’s program coordinator for Health In Harmony, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the climate crisis through accessible healthcare.
Background reading:
- Brazil’s indigenous populations are among the priority groups to receive Covid-19 vaccinations, but the difficulty in getting supplies to remote groups has been a major obstacle for public health teams. Some communities received their jabs on canoes.
- While they are among Brazil’s priority vaccination groups, indigenous people are receiving immunization at a much slower pace, writes reporter Renato Alves. Several indigenous communities in Brazil are at risk of complete extinction due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- A recent study encountered a direct link between increased deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and a number of mosquito-borne diseases. Researchers also charted the spread of Covid-19 in the Amazon.
- Congress is leading the charge to lift environmental regulations in the Amazon rainforest, continuing the work started by President Bolsonaro and his cabinet. One bill proposes looser controls over a number of economic ventures, leaving some projects completely exempt from environmental licensing.
- The expansion of cattle farming in Brazil is often linked to deforestation, but a recent study shows that environmentally responsible practices could be a way to increase the sector further.
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